TeachersFirst's Resources for Infographics

This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst includes tools for creating infographics, collections of great infographic examples, and sites with professional information for teachers planning to use infographics for student projects and assessments. Join the 21st century trend of infographics as a way to share a lot of information, quantitative data, and relationships in a compact but effective visual space. Help students learn and construct meaning using infographics.

If you would like to see specific examples of infographics, use the keyword search feature at left to search for more.

Find a colorful, creative Infographic for just about any topic on this sharing site. Use one of the forty-plus categories or type your keyword in a search box. There are so many cool Infographics at this site that you won't have to create one of your own. But if you do, you can upload it and have it displayed on Infographics Only. What is an Infographic? Learn more about Infographics here. Be sure to take time to preview the Infographics on this site as some may not be suitable for young people. It would be best to link directly to the Infographic you want to share.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Common Core emphasizes "reading" of visual sources of information, and this is the perfect source. Why not use an Infographic as an introduction to a unit or lesson in your classroom? Create open ended questions about the Infographic to use as a formative assessment tool. Ask students to create questions about the topic of the Infographic. Reading teachers could choose an Infographic on a daily/weekly basis for teaching/practicing how to interpret informational graphics within a text. If they are mature enough to ignore some topics, consider having students go to the Just for Fun category and choose an Infographic. Then ask students to report out the "main idea" of the graphic and give three supporting details as evidence. For any subject, as a form of summative evaluation, consider assigning students to create an Infographic about a topic covered in class as a way to show understanding. If your students are new to creating infographics, have them view Creating Infographics: A Screencast Tutorial reviewed here. For more examples of how to use infographics in your classroom, view the recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session found here. This session is 75 minutes in length.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from April 9, 2013, opens in Adobe Connect. Infographics are an excellent tool for students to understand and connect vocabulary, data, and other information. Discover ways for students to use infographics to learn and to "show what they know." Hear how one teacher implemented infographics as the scaffold for learning. Discover helpful tools, how-to strategies, and practical tips for using student-created infographics in middle school or high school classes. (Ideas are adaptable for elementary). As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: List possible ways to incorporate infographics in your curriculum; Chat with a teacher who has used infographics and learn from her experiences; View examples of student-made infographics and hear students' thoughts about learning through infographics; Discuss how to get started with infographics, even if you are NOT a visual person!; Explore a sampling of resources, materials, and web-based tools appropriate for student-created infographics in many subjects/grade levels; Locate at least one appropriate web resource/tool for use in your curriculum/teaching situation; (follow-up) Implement lesson(s) using infographics as scaffold or assessment (or both).

In the Classroom

View this recording to learn more about infographics and how to use them in your classroom. Reach your more visual learners using infographics. Visit the resource page to view all of the links shared. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

The Infographic of the Day from FastCompany can give practice in learning about data and interpreting Infographics. Not sure what an Infographic is? Infographics provide visual data and information about a topic/related topics. Be sure to take time to preview the Infographics on this site as some may not be suitable for young people. It would be best to link directly to a specific Infographic to share.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Instruct students to view the Infographic and identify the information that jumps out at them. This is a good time to discuss design elements and how to arrange items to be noticed. Allow students to work in groups to identify interesting information. Students can identify the accompanying information that helps in the understanding of the data. Students can record any questions the infographic raises about the data or the related information. Challenge your students to use specific information they find to develop their own Infographic with further explanations and concepts. This last activity meets Common Core standards in paraphrasing content into simpler terms and synthesizing information from multiple sources into a coherent understanding. Learn more about Infographics here. Peruse TeachersFirst's many Infographics tools here.

Find free, scalable vector images created by a community of designers whose goal is to create a universal global language of symbols that everyone can understand. Vector files are images that do not change or become fuzzy when you resize them. Communicating visually is powerful and easy using symbols like these. Move beyond language and cultural barriers in learning and communicating by using these symbols. You must set up a free account to actually download. Note: Many programs cannot use the file format (SVG) but some programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, can. Don't have a program to open the image? Download the image, then upload to the Media Converter (reviewed here) to convert the image. No need to open the file- just convert! Note that the use of these vector images is FREE if the artist(s) attribution is easily viewable and accessible (linked back to the artist's page on the Noun Project site). Many images are in the public domain with no attribution required. Ethical use would still give credit. If you do not want to attribute each time it is used, icons can be purchased for unlimited use instead. Be patient. This site is often SLOW to open and offers slow downloads because of the larger image files.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

The symbols are useful for autistic support, emotional support, ESL/ELL, and even in world languages. Use these vector diagrams for creating infographics and pictograms in any content area. Use a site such as Easel.ly, reviewed here or Venngage reviewed here. Challenge students to tell a rebus-style story using simple symbols only. This is a fun and imaginative way for students to think creatively. Use these symbols to create classroom signs. Teach students digital citizenship along with creativity by learning to give credit for resources used as they explain. Try using icons like these in the navigation area of a wiki or class website instead of words to increase the accessibility to others. Be sure to include this site as a list of resources for students to use on your wiki or class website. Students can access images to tell their story or to relate/teach content to others. Encourage students to create their own symbols for use in telling a story (great if students have access to programs that can create vector images). Special ed teachers may want to use these symbols on communication boards. Note: since file downloads are slow, you may want to download a collection for your specific lesson or project outside of class time and offer the files to students locally in a shared folder or on a class wiki. Teachers of non-readers will find these symbols useful in making classroom rules or signs.

View this video to learn how to create an infographic. For visual learners, this is a must see! Linda Braun briefly introduces what an infographic is using the program Visual.ly, reviewed here. She then switches over to a program called Easel.ly, reviewed here, where you can use one of their templates to create your infographic. She steps you through changing objects, object size and color, and adding text. Once she finishes the infographic in Easel.ly, she then switches to Infogr.am, reviewed here, and shows how to either use their templates, or create your own, including importing your own data and images.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Introduce your students to infographics and this video in class. Share this (approximately 14 minute) video on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then, post this video on your website for students to watch whenever they need help while creating an infographic. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand content and connect it with the real world. See a full TeachersFirst article about using infographics as a scaffold and formative assessment here. Have students create an infographic about the impact of slavery on an economy or to explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Use one of the tools described in the video, Visual.ly, reviewed here, Easel.ly, reviewed here, or Infogr.am, reviewed here.

Learn to think like a historian. See how we know about the past by using this interactive poster. All you have to do is hover your mouse over one of the quadrants and click. More information, activities, and links will appear. Each of the quadrants also has additional teaching resources. On the far left column you will find links to "What Is Historical Thinking?" a video, "What are Primary Sources?" and "What are Secondary Sources?"

In the Classroom

Use your projector or interactive whiteboard and teach your students how to think like a historian. There are some interesting links here for you and your students to investigate. For instance, there are links for exploring the modern civil rights movement, primary sources to look at diary entries from other time periods, examining lithographs, using and reading multiple perspectives, and several more. You may want to go through each quadrant with the entire class, or you might want to assign groups to become "specialists" in a quadrant and have them present it to your class. Challenge the groups to create presentations using Prezi (reviewed here).

This PInterest pinboard is a collection of infographics that serve as resumes for artists, writers, tech designers, digital workers, and many other 21st century creative professionals. Click any infographic to see it in its original home on the web so you can zoom in and see the details. This collection represents strengths of both Pinterest (reviewed here) and the infographic medium. Explore to see how it's done!

In the Classroom

Share this visual collection with students as an example of one way they can portray their strengths and interests to potential employers or college admissions offices. Don't wait until they are seniors, however. Middle school students in an art or career exploration class can create a resume infographic about themselves to use for summer jobs or even on a flyer to get part time work around the neighborhood. Not creative? Allow students to explore the "resumes" to learn more about digital careers and the credentials they require. In high school art classes, have students explore the hot topics in digital design by checking out the resumes. In history or literature classes, offer the infographic resume as a possible project alternative for students for literature study or researching a figure in history. They could create an infographic resume for their figure, literary character, or author. These examples can inspire them.

Create Infographics - easily! Click the "Start Fresh" gray square to begin using the tools. Simply drag and drop your favorite from a wide selection of customizable themes (layouts), or start from a blank canvas. Drag and drop other needed elements or upload graphics to create your own. Enter your text and data to create your own Infographic, displaying and sharing information. Find all the needed elements and prompts along the top navigation bar. This site takes the challenge of using design principles out of the creation of an Infographic. Click Save and you will be prompted to join if you have not already. Once logged in and saved, the prompts will tell you to return to your home page (leaving the "creator" area) to choose settings for your finished infographic. You can choose public or private, share by link, download, or delete.

In the Classroom

Use a whole class account if you are working with students under 13 or if school policies prohibit student accounts. Experiment with Easel.ly on a projector or interactive whiteboard (let the students do it!) using different design "themes," making changes without having to configure the whole Infographic. After creating Infographics as a class, review the other types to show basic design principles. Students can create Infographics of a classroom topic, relationships and definitions of major terms, information from labs, and more. Find data and information that connects your content to the outside world, such as the statistics and causes for endangered species. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand any curriculum content and connect it with the real world. For example, show the many ways electricity is used in the world or the impact of slavery on an economy. Or have students explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Learn about food groups (now displayed as myplate) by dissecting a food, diary, or a typical school lunch in terms of meeting daily requirements (and other nutrition topics).

If your use literature circles in your classroom, making an Infographic about a novel the group read would be a great conclusion for the lit circle project, and it might entice others in the class to read the novel. Post the infographics on your web page for all your students and their parents to enjoy.

To challenge your gifted students, have them research and create infographics depicting the tough issues or "flipsides" related to your curriculum topic: Major court cases and issues involving freedom of speech (during your Constuitution unit), risks and benefits of nuclear power (in a physics class), how an author's experience influences what he/she writes, lead-ups to a current events crisis, etc.

Discover how to use student-created infographics as scaffold or assessment for learning in any middle or high school subject. Many teachers are not "visual" people and struggle to implement infographics because they do not know how to help students. Whether you are a visual person or a "data" person, these pages will help your class get started. See the story of one teacher's journey into using infographics and learn from her experience. Find downloadable files to help: a PowerPoint you can use with students, and a customizable rubric. Don't miss the extensive Resources and Tools page for examples, background articles, and more. These pages grew out of a presentation at ISTE 2012.

In the Classroom

Read through this professional tutorial if you have even considered trying infographics with your students. You will find just the encouragement you need. Mark this one in your Favorites and share the many examples with your students, including student-created examples from a ninth grade class, as you launch your own infographics projects. Let your students "show what they know" in a new way.

Take note of Course Hero with your class. Course Hero looks at various note-taking methods and explores each (using infographics and more). The featured infographic here shows results on written vs. computer note-taking. Discover different types of note taking and research for each. Find the most effective ways to take notes. Caution: this is a public blog, so you may want to preview comments before allowing students to explore on their own. Or simply share this site together with your class rather than using it for individual exploration.

In the Classroom

Use Course Hero to introduce note taking for your study skills class or integrate into any subject. After introducing each note-taking strategy mentioned, have your students try each type and decide which works best for each individual. Immediately after your first audio lecture, give a pop quiz. Let students try note taking and discover the value for success. Use as a remediation tool for learners who need more reinforcement. Introduce in gifted classes, when these learners can no longer rely on simply remembering. At your parent orientation, give this site as a resource. And be sure to provide this link on your class website.

Like the looks of Infographics but wish it were as easy as creating a Powerpoint? This website aims to empower you to easily create infographics in a short time. It is worth the free registration to gain access. Create beautiful Infographics by creating a title and then choosing a template or color scheme. Create your own templates using a range of color, label, and font choices. Click on the elements on the template to change the words, add widgets, create charts, and more. Use the slider along the top right to move between edit mode and preview mode. Go beyond traditional charts by including word clouds, treemaps, bubble charts, and more. Click Save as Template (helpful in creating labels and examples for students to follow) to save your style for later. Click Publish to make the Infographic public or private. You can save the Infographic as an image, share via URL, or use an embed code to place on a wiki, site, or blog. Click on your dashboard to view additional templates shared by creators and to find your Infographics.

In the Classroom

Consider creating Infographics of material learned in class and for better understanding and connection with other topics and the "real world." Make curriculum content more real with infographics that students can relate to. Have students create their own infographics with this site to display what they have learned from a unit of study, how vocabulary words are related to the unit content, or as a review before a test. It could even be a replacement for the test! Connect data found on the Internet to information needed to understand that data. (Consider looking at different ways to show the data which can generate bias.) Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to allow student groups to present an Infographic about a book they've read, related news article, etc. Create Infographics about events such as Earth Day, D-Day, Take Your Child to Work Day, and other observances.

Create interactive charts or infographics to embed onto your site and share with others. Choose from one of the themes (a limited choice for free members) and enter your information into the existing words and charts. You can even load data from Excel. Change settings, themes, elements, and more as you work. Your work saves automatically and can be found in your Library. When finished, click Share to publish and send to Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Copy the embed code to place the graphic on your web site, or click "view on web" to copy/paste the URL to share. Note that any infographic you make with a free account is publicly viewable.

In the Classroom

Consider using quantitative data (or collecting your own) to create class graphics explaining and sharing the data. This tool does not create infographics that show flow charts or non-numeric relationships. Use the site to teach data and the graphic display of data. Common Core expects students to interpret data from visual representations and to create their own visual representations of information. Allow groups of students to choose a graphic and report to the class on how the data was made more meaningful using the graphics that were chosen. You may also want to share this link as a research tool for debates or presentations on science or social studies topics. Discuss the science, history, or math behind the data collected. Discuss other information and ways of presenting the information in order to create a more interesting graphic.

To challenge your gifted students, have them research and create infographics depicting the data to support stances on issues related to your curriculum topics: Numbers of people affected by climate change, economic effects of pollution, etc. Have them research the data and present it visually on a class wiki, then write an accompanying explanation or opinion piece.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then use images in an Infographic to tell those words in a captivating way. Fill in the information about your presentation and choose a theme. Information will be added to the theme you choose. Add data, change images and icons, and add text. Save as a static image (JPEG or PNG) or in an HTML format to embed in a web page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

You will want to play with this tool before using it in class. For a good explanation of the infographic process using Piktochart, see this blog post. Use this tool anywhere numerical data is collected and is best shown in a chart. Collect data in a science, survey, or math class and display it using different graphs to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using each graph type. Use for quick creation and sharing of created graphs. Create charts together easily on an interactive whiteboard when introducing the different types. Use to portray different sets of data about a topic in a new and unique way.

This comic-book style guide traces the history of visual communications and explains design principles anyone can use to create visual projects. You can click to view in html (web page) form or download the pdf version. The comic book follows the tale of a young man who cannot draw but wants to revolutionize the world. By breaking drawing into simple shapes and lines, the protagonist learns to communicate through drawing. Then he adds perspective to move past "flat" to the look of 3D. Whether you are trying to create a poster, an infographic, a scientific diagram, or a greeting card, this guide will give you new "perspective."

In the Classroom

Share this guide (the html version) on your interactive whiteboard or projector before any visual project or assignment. Offer the pdf and/or the link as a reference on your class web page or computer cluster for students who become frustrated drawing. The tools explained in the guide are easily duplicated in most computer drawing programs and online whiteboard tools, such as these reviewed tools from the TeachersFirst Edge. Encourage students to view this guide when they must design a model or infographic and cannot figure out how to simplify their ideas to something they can represent.

This infographic depicts the trends and design strategies used to convey information in today's infographics. See stats on the visual devices used, topics, locations, and informational elements that are "trending" in infographic use. Whether you are an analytic person or a visual one, this site make you stop and think.

In the Classroom

If you are assigning students to create infographics, this is a must-share. Have students explore this in small groups then find examples of the trend they find most interesting. Share their finds on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Better yet, share them on your class wiki so students can refer back to these ideas when they are "stuck" working on their own visual products. Art teachers can use this as an entry point into a graphic design unit. Reading teachers can use this to help students interpret and analyze the graphics that often accompany informational texts.

Find great Infographics about a variety of topics. Use the beautiful arrangement of data to uncover relationships between various pieces of information. Easily share or embed the chart where needed. Click on References and Data Table to look at the raw data and origins of the information. Choose from major topics in the tabs above such as Country Information, Environment, Food and Agriculture, and more. Search your own topics with the search bar.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Introduce a topic by sharing the Infographic and allowing time for students to identify various items that they notice about the chart. Allow time to think-pair-share in class and list questions for further understanding. Consider creating Infographics of material learned in class and for better understanding and connection with other topics and the world around them. Make curriculum content more real with infographics that students can relate to.

See a new way to look at the USA (or the World, or Japan). This site resizes countries on the map in relation to various issues: population, resources, employment, religion, death, business, the environment, and more. Each main topic also has numerous sub-topics to explore. Maps adjust to correspond to data. For example, click on "unemployed" on the U.S. map and you see the states in proportion to the number of unemployed workers. Mouse over the state and you can see the percentage of unemployed workers. A list on the right ranks states from 1 to 50 for the percentage of unemployed (or other specified topic). New maps/topics are constantly being added, and you can make suggestions as to what types of maps you would like to see.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

When studying a specific topic in class (unemployment, AIDS, drunk driving, religion, energy resources, crops, etc.), share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Ask students why certain state or countries might differ from others. Are there issues that appear to be related, such as alcoholism and unemployment? Is it cause/effect or simply a coincidence? During election years, explore political leanings/polls and other statistics from this site. Have cooperative learning groups explore a specific topic (or state) and possible reasons for the data. To show what they have learned from this site, challenge groups to create an online graphic to share using Tabblo reviewed here. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Remember that you can always take screenshots of a map using PrtScrn key in Windows (then paste it where you want it) or using Command+Shift+4 on a Mac to save the image on your computer. Use the screenshots in explanations and presentations.

View data visualizations (infographics) about GE's initiatives. Click or rollover each interactive graph and review the data that can be found within it. Share these data visualizations by email, twitter, or Facebook, as well as downloading each for further use. The topics range from energy use to health issues to innovation. Don't miss the retrospective of the year 2011 shown through data visualizations!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use for basic information about energy and economic issues that can be discussed in class and researched even further. Share the graphs and information on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Challenge cooperative learning groups to explore different graphs and report back to the class. Use this site to inspire infographic projects in any social studies or science class.

Find fascinating Infographics on a variety of topics: Technology, Environment, Business, Food Facts, Politics, Health Safety, and even Interesting Facts. What are Infographics? A graphic visual representation of information, data, or knowledge.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use as an introduction to a lesson or unit. Use Think-Pair-Share to list and share information provided by the graphic. Develop questions to be answered to understand the information or questions that they just wonder. Allow students or groups of students to choose an Infographic that interests them and report on the information given. Consider assigning the creation of an Infographic as an assignment to understand content and connect it with the real world, such as showing the many ways electricity is used in the world or the impact of slavery on an economy. Or have them explain an experiment and report the results with graphical information to provide meaning. Since infographics are often key to understanding an article, reading teachers will appreciate this large collection to use in teaching/practicing how to interpret informational graphics within a text. Share one each day for students to practice telling you the "main idea" of the graphic.

This circular infographic shows colors connected with 85 specific emotions in a variety of cultures. What emotions do colors suggest in a culture? How does culture convey emotion through color, and how does this vary from culture to culture? You can see examples of other similarly designed visualizations by clicking on "Select Visualization."

In the Classroom

Use this site to promote visual literacy and as an example for reading graphs. Have students select another topic and make a similar graph of their own. Use one of the graph makers available at the site "Statistics - Johnnie's Math Page" (reviewed here). Look at paintings from different cultures and ask how color interacts with other artistic elements like shape, design, placement, etc. to convey meaning. Have students make an assortment of works of the same design, varying color choice depending on which culture is going to view the work. If you have student creating infographics, this chart is a must in selecting font colors and more to guide emotional impact of the graphics.